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1000 Playwright Interviews The first interview I posted was on June 3, 2009. It was Jimmy Comtois. I decided I would start interview...

Mar 14, 2011

About the interviews

Many times I thought I was going to stop doing these interviews. The thing is, I'm not running out of playwrights. There are scores of exciting, interesting and intelligent people writing plays right now. I'm constantly overwhelmed by it and I continue to learn a lot. So the series goes on. But while we're at a stopping point, (number 325, whooo!), I wanted to take a minute to talk to you about something.

I have been working hard trying to interview a balance of playwrights. It continues to be heavy on New York playwrights and there are probably still too many white people but I'm doing my best to show a snapshot of the playwriting world right now. One thing that continues to be a challenge is keeping a 50/50 balance of men and women. I felt like this is an important thing to do because there are an even number of men and women writing plays right now, but it's getting harder and harder for me to do this. Let me tell you why.

Women are not getting back to me with their interviews in the same numbers men are. I understand that playwrights are a busy people. If you didn't get back to me this is not me chastising you. It's just something I noticed. Also, when people approach me to suggest playwrights to interview, I get two male playwright suggestions for every one woman.

This is all to say that apocryphally I'm noticing women are not advocating for themselves as well as I wish they were and people of both sexes are not advocating for women as much as I wish they were.

If you want to tell me about some awesome playwright I haven't interviewed yet, by all means, please do. I have a long list of names already but I can always add to it. This is all I ask--try to give me two women for every one man you give me. Just try. And just in general, make a conscious effort to advocate for women. Thanks.

13 comments:

When I was Lit Manager for Red Bull Theater, I'd ask every female playwright I met to send me their work, and very few did. Like you, no judgment on my part, just an anecdotal observation.

I can suggest interviewing Hortense Gerardo of Boston; Kathleen Akerley of Washington, DC; Renee Calarco of Washington, DC; and Stephanie Walker of Chicago.

In NYC, Julienne Hairston is a beginning playwright who wrote an amazing first play, and Holly Hepp-Galvan is also in our MFA program at Hunter. (I know you've already interviewed Johnna.) I'll email you their contact info.

I'm noticing women are not advocating for themselves as well as I wish they were and people of both sexes are not advocating for women as much as I wish they were.

The first is particularly interesting and probably a contributing cause for the second. In the arts, I've generally found that one isn't likely to advocate on behalf of a colleague who doesn't advocate on his or her behalf. The natural inclination is that with limited energies to advocate on a colleague's behalf, we want to put those energies behind somebody who really looks like they want the support.

Now somebody needs to ask: why is it that even with the general push for 50/50 representation, the individual playwrights aren't presenting themselves?

Seems that I recall something like this being a question at the start of this project. Looks like you're learning something that we all should know... whatever that is may still be yet to come. But I admire your effort, Adam, and look forward to learning from you. "A painting is never finished; it only stops in interesting places." - Barnett Neuman. Thx.

You know, I've observed similar things - and I confess I'm sometimes that woman.

I do advocate for myself in select circumstances, when I know it's/I'm a good fit, but I'm frankly a little less interested in a "get my name out there everywhere" kind of self-advocacy/marketing. And I think that's the case for a lot of women. And so far it's worked out fine for many of us, though everyone may not know our names!

I think the conversation's really interesting - I've been talking with other female playwrights lately about the pressure to operate within structures that reward more aggressive (some might say masculine or capitalist) behavior. I think the issue's really complex and deep-rooted, actually, not just about a lot of women being shy... so let the dialogue continue! It's a good one!

Well, in the interest of women advocating for themselves, I nominate myself! I'm not sure at what point you're looking for a playwright to be at when you interview them - but I'm early career playwright and not planning on stopping in this lifetime.

Back when I was more interested in producing the work of others rather than my own, I started a list of writers. It's a lil' dated now, so some might not still be writing, but here's what I had at the time: